The economic crisis continues to affect many women and men living in poverty. But how these effects are felt depends, to a large extent, on their relationships with the people and institutions with whom they interact. These relationships are profoundly different for women and men.
Unemployment hits poor families hard, regardless of whether it is a man or woman who is laid off. But the chances of a family recovering from this setback is shaped by the different levels of bargaining power that women and men have in the labour market, and their different responsibilities at home. The gender inequalities and power imbalances that predate the current crisis have resulted in its additional afflictions falling disproportionately on those who are already structurally disempowered and marginalised.
Although often labelled 'coping strategies', the means women find to respond to crises are frequently unsustainable, and are more appropriately conceived of as 'desperation measures'. Pre-existing inequalities, which include under-representation of women at all levels of economic decision making and their over-representation in informal, vulnerable, and casual employment, are often more significant than gender inequalities arising specifically from the crisis.
This paper summarises the issues raised during a workshop of development and gender practitioners and academics, convened in September 2009, by the international journal Gender & Development, published by OxfamRead More

In sub-Saharan Africa mobile pastoralism is predominantly practised in arid and semi-arid lands. These lands are hot and dry, with low and erratic rainfall. There are not many livelihoods suited to this unpredictable environment, but pastoralism is particularly appropriate, because it enables people to adapt by moving livestock according to the shifting availability of water and pasture.
Pastoralism makes a significant contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) in many East African countries (around ten per cent in Kenya); it provides the majority of meat consumed in those countries; and provides a livelihood for tens of millions of people who live there. Pastoralists are the custodians of dryland environments, providing services through good rangeland management including biodiversity conservation, and wildlife tourism.
Despite providing such value, pastoralist areas in East African countries tend to have the highest incidence of poverty and the least access to basic services compared with other areas. In the pastoralist areas in northern Uganda, 64 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, compared with 38 per cent nationallyRead More

Increased regional inequality has been a major concern in many emerging economies like China, India, Vietnam and Thailand. However, even a large inequality is observed within the lagging regions. The objective of this paper is to look into what are the sources of within region inequality using the community surveys and a census type of households in Western China. This snapshot view of inequality within and between rural villages in western China is based on a census-type household survey in three administrative villages and a sampling survey of 286 natural villages in the poor province of Guizhou in 2004. In contrast to coastal regions, nonfarm income is distributed unevenly in this inland western region. This accounts for the largest share of overall income inequality. But agriculture is still the rural people’s major source of livelihood in this particular location. On the expenditure side, health care is one of the most important sources of inequality. Because rural income is strongly related to human capital, the uneven access to health care will translate into a larger income gap in the long run. The analysis based on the natural village survey indicates that income varies widely across villages. Access to infrastructure and markets, education and political participation explain most of this variation.
These findings have important implications on the future development strategy in promoting lagging regions development and poverty reduction. While the overall economic development will be the main instrument to bring the majority poor out of poverty, a targeted approach has become increasingly crucial in helping the poor villages and households. It is critical to understand why these villages and households can not participate in the growth process and how development programs and various transfer programmes help them to overcome the constraints they faceRead More

Micro-finance programmes not only give women and men access to savings and credit, but reach millions of people worldwide bringing them together regularly in organised groups. Although no ‘magic bullet’, they are potentially a very significant contribution to gender equality and women's empowerment, as well as pro-poor development and civil society strengthening. Through their contribution to women’s ability to earn an income these programmes have potential to initiate a series of ‘virtuous spirals’ of economic empowerment, increased well-being for women and their families and wider social and political empowerment. Microfinance services and groups involving men also have potential to question and significantly change men's attitudes and behaviours as an essential component of achieving gender equalityRead More

This paper presents a synthesis of four case studies of watershed management experiences in the Philippines, primarily to provide insight on why watershed management approach has not gained wider recognition in the country despite being renowned internationally. The paper starts by presenting a brief description for each case study involving the watersheds of Maasin, Magat, Manupali, and Balian sub-watershed to account for their critical role as water supply support systems to downstream communities. The paper also provides highlights on various initiatives undertaken by the Local Government Units, NGOs, private sector etc in their effort to protect these watersheds from environmental degradation.
The case studies focus on the elements that are present or absent in the various watersheds as they affect the implementation of watershed management approach. These elements are categorised into:

legal and institutional infrastructure;

social capital;

financial/economic capital as well as technical and administrative capital of the watershed managers.

The results and recommendations of the case studies indicate that:

water-based economic activities in the lowlands can only be sustained through good watershed management;

the effective implementation of watershed management requires some level of financial capital, a community or group of communities with good enough level of intellectual and social capitals and the presence of a legal and institutional framework to support the watershed approach;

the level of these various forms of capital varies across watershed, thereby leading to differences in the level of watershed management implementation as well;

the sustained flow of high quality water that feeds the household water requirements, fuels the industries and power sector and irrigates farmlands in downstream communitiesc— bare all proofs that watershed protection is a valuable activity;

understanding the link between watershed protection and water supply services by the watershed populace is of critical importance;

the need of awareness of watershed protection and good water supply through information, education and communication (IEC) efforts;

the need for payments of environmental services as previous initiatives undertaken by national forest protection programs and other community-based livelihood activities and reforestation projects are just short-lived management initiatives.

As in most low-income countries, the majority of the poor population in Viet Nam is found in rural areas, where agriculture provides the primary means of livelihood. It has been argued that an agriculture-based development (ABD) strategy is more appropriate for Viet Nam at the present time than both import-substitution and export-led industrialisation, considering its effectiveness in generating income opportunities, directly and indirectly, for the rural population.
Under the ABD strategy, increased public resources allocated to agriculture and the rural sector would lead to rising agricultural productivity and rural income that in turn would create a strong demand for increased nonagricultural production in the local economy, especially of labour-intensive industrial goods and services. It is in effect a decentralised, employment-generating industrialisation strategy that can lead to favourable outcomes in overall income growth and distribution. The central region in Viet Nam is the least developed among the three macro-regions, the rapid economic expansion during the 1990s having been concentrated in the southern and northern areas. Because central Viet Nam is even more heavily agricultural than the rest of the country, the argument for adopting an ABD strategy would seem to apply with greater force.
In this paper use is made of SAM (social accounting matrix) multiplier analysis in examining quantitatively the comparative economy-wide repercussions of exogenous income increases in agriculture (such as that arising from productivity growth) in central Viet Nam, paying particular attention to the effects on overall income growth and equity. The equity impact is evaluated in terms of the induced relative changes on the incomes of four households groups distinguished in the study. Some policy implications of the results are discussed, emphasising the role of macroeconomic policies in helping promote equitable growth in central Viet NamRead More